Post by petrolino on Aug 21, 2024 2:09:50 GMT
'The Prayer' ('Pianism, 1986) - The Michel Petrucciani Trio
'In his first 15 years as a professional, veteran drummer Eliot Zigmund experienced the commercial side of music. He was busy in the studios of New York, playing “pop music, jingles, commercials,” he says. He went on the road with pop singer Neil Sedaka. He played “thousands of weddings and bar mitzvahs.”
But all the while, his heart was in jazz. So Zigmund, who’s coming to Kansas City for a string of gigs next month, made a career adjustment — and he has been true to jazz ever since. The change came after Zigmund snagged a high-profile job in pianist Bill Evans’ trio in the mid-1970s. “Once I got started with Evans, I got serious about jazz,” he says. It hasn’t been a high-profile career — he describes it as a mixed bag of successes and frustrations. But it’s an adventure that still takes him around the world.
Zigmund, in his late 60s, is a true New Yorker who expanded and polished his skills playing on the now-gone Catskills scene. “There were a lot of great musicians there, and there was always work in the lounges and show bands. And there were lots of after-hours sessions, and sessions during the day. Not everybody aspired to be a working jazz musician, but everybody played jazz. It was the language of the time.”
He made his way on the New York scene through the 1960s but began to feel constricted. He had become, as he says, “more or less a hippie.” So he headed for San Francisco in 1970. His mainstream jazz training served him well on the West Coast. “I got to work with a lot of great people — Vince Guaraldi, Art Pepper, Mike Nock, Ron McClure, Steve Swallow, Art Lande. It was a very productive three- or four-year period there. I got to work a lot, and I gained a lot of confidence that wouldn’t have been as easy to acquire in New York.”
Jazz Town knows what you’re thinking, gentle reader : If Zigmund worked for Vince Guaraldi, did he play on any of the “Peanuts” TV specials? He’s sure he did but isn’t sure which one. He remembers visiting Charles Schulz’s studio and thinks he might be on “A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving.” He credits his ability to play quietly but with intensity to working with Guaraldi.'
- Joe Klopus, Kansas.com
Michel Petrucciani - Piano
Palle Danielsson - Bass
Eliot Zigmund - Drums
Palle Danielsson - Bass
Eliot Zigmund - Drums